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Emperor Penguin

That's the problem with handguns. No one has any problem with RESPONSIBLE people carrying weapons. But these weren't responsible people. Anyone who pulls out a gun and starts shooting to avoid a $100 towing charge and a $60 impound fee shouldn't have a gun. They're a danger to society, and giving them a gun only increases the risk they're gonna kill someone. That person is facing charges now, but he's just lucky he's not looking at 25 years in jail for murder.

I'm Canadian, so it's none of my business what you guys do within your own borders. I'm just glad there are many fewer handguns in Canada, and the criminals that are shooting, are usually shooting at other criminals. (and I don't mind that)

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That's the problem with handguns. No one has any problem with RESPONSIBLE people carrying weapons. But these weren't responsible people. Anyone who pulls out a gun and starts shooting to avoid a $100 towing charge and a $60 impound fee shouldn't have a gun. They're a danger to society, and giving them a gun only increases the risk they're gonna kill someone. That person is facing charges now, but he's just lucky he's not looking at 25 years in jail for murder.

I'm Canadian, so it's none of my business what you guys do within your own borders. I'm just glad there are many fewer handguns in Canada, and the criminals that are shooting, are usually shooting at other criminals. (and I don't mind that)

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If the trow truck driver had one though we might have one more bad guy off the street. when guns are outlawed only out laws will have guns. Then we are up a creek.

Orlando's Seafood Grill (located about 300 yards from where I live) holds an outdoor lunch on January 7th of each year. That, according to Environment Canada statistics, is the coldest $%^&ing day of the year here. And, on that day the snobs of Winnipeg Society each pony up $250 a plate to have lunch outdoors at Orlando's. The restaurant donates the food and service, and all money raised goes to charity. This year they served ice cream for dessert and no one complained that their wine wasn't properly chilled!

Truth be told, if it weren't for the white table cloths, those guys would look like a bunch of homeless people at a soup kitchen.

If I'm driving down Corydon I occasionally see all the TV station trucks and camera crews there. All the newspapers report on it, too. The people there get a lot of celebrity out of it (it's heart warming to see really rich people shiver) and it's all for a good cause.

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Hey Nestor
I heard the Vancouver is having one of there warmest winters on record. That sucks ! Mother nature never cooperates does she ?
Even heard some of the events in the lower part (not the mountains) may be affected or they'll be making snow...

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"Social trap is a term used by psychologists to describe a situation in which a group of people act to obtain short-term individual gains, which in the long run leads to a loss for the group as a whole."

There's no solution.

If no one has a gun and only one person gets one, then everyone needs one.
And each person is then no better off, relative to each other.

Emperor Penguin

Hey Nestor
I heard the Vancouver is having one of there warmest winters on record. That sucks ! Mother nature never cooperates does she ?
Even heard some of the events in the lower part (not the mountains) may be affected or they'll be making snow...

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Yes, it's Vancouver's luck to be having the warmest winter in decades right before they're supposed to be hosting the 2010 Winter Olympics. Also, you can only MAKE snow if the temperature is near freezing. If it's well above freezing, then the water you spray out the nozzles doesn't freeze, and you can't make snow.

What they're doing is trucking snow to the Olympic venues where they can, and air lifting it in by helicopter where they can't.

There'll still be snow on the slopes the athletes will be competing on, but it's going to require that we keep replenishing the snow on those slopes to ensure they aren't bare for the Olympics.

Emperor Penguin

I think the best way to look at gun ownership in America is to lump it in with all of the other problems to which there are no GOOD solutions either, like capital punishment, abortion and affirmative action.

(Affirmative Action is where they specify that a certain number of people in a position have to be visible minorities, so what ends up happening is that better qualified people end up being passed over because they're not visible minorities, and the result is that jobs are filled and services rendered by less qualified people than would otherwise be doing those jobs.)

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I think the best way to look at gun ownership in America is to lump it in with all of the other problems to which there are no GOOD solutions QUOTE]

Why is gun ownership a problem? The second amendment gives Americans the RIGHT to bear arms. This right wasn't put in the constitution to allow for people to hang a firearm on their hip and walk around like Billy The Kid and shoot the first thing that moved. The founding fathers thought it was necessary to protect the country from a government that takes to much control.

Emperor Penguin

That's exactly correct. Your country was founded by people who wanted to break away from a domineering monarch, and one of the ways they felt they could guarantee continuation of the principles of freedom and liberty on which your country was founded was to allow everyone to "bear arms". The population would always outnumber the government's army, and so the government would always be "out gunned" in any public revolt. That was a clever and effective way of ensuring that the government would always be subservient to the people, and not the other way around.

But, that constitution was written in what, 1776? Times have changed. "Arms" are still weapons, but there's little similarity between a musket or a dueling pistol and modern guns. The Arms that you are guaranteed in your constitution have shrunk in size and increased in power and criminals are now using those arms to rob people, rape women and commit murder and other crimes. This is something that was never envisioned by your founding fathers.

Really, in my view, turning to the U.S. Constitution to find an answer to a modern problem is the same thing as turning to the Bible to find answers to modern problems. But, things have changed so much between then and now that answers that worked well back then don't work now. According to the Bible, there's nothing wrong with slavery, and homosexuals are an "abomination in the eyes of God". So, we should still have slaves and we should persecute faggots.

I believe modern problems require contemporary and effective solutions based on today's realities, and to say that handguns are protected by the Constitution isn't much different than getting some friends together to go beat the crap out of some gay guy, and claiming that the Bible protects a persons right to hate and persecute homos.

But, I'll be the first one to recognize that guns are an American issue, and it's really none of my business what you guys do within your own borders with the curtains drawn.

Also, I think everyone agrees that responsible gun ownership isn't an issue. There are lots of people in my country that still use their guns to put food on the dinner table, and it would be wrong to take their guns away. The problem is the 16 year olds that "wanna be a gangsta" and are young/stupid enough to shoot at someone just like on Snoop Dog's video. If it weren't for guns falling into the hands of those people, there would be no issue.

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The American Mentality is unique and not understood on a global level. You really have to live here to understand it.

On the gun note though... Until we can rectify our existence against the world that we live in we will be forever at odds. Nails don't pound themselves into boards. Criminals don't turn themselves in, and no amount of good or happy thinking will bring back the lives of those lost to violence. Violence will exist in our cultures whether we want it to our not. It is a plague of man kind. Guns aren't limited to violent street encounter either. They are written into our constitution as both a defense against others but a defense against those who seek to rule us through fear and oppression. A well armed intelligent populace is a scary thing to those who seek to oppress us through those means. Exercising our right to carry and be armed it tantamount to our right to vote. By exercising both we are demonstrating force, and through force you can make change. This is the nature of the universe. Without force nothing changes. With the application of force we have movement, creation, destruction, and rebirth. I hope to someday live in a culture free of violence, but guns don't equal violence. People equal violence. I think realizing that and addressing that issue should be our primary focus. Guns are a means for violent people to express themselves. Normal people don't turn violent in the presence of guns. They become fearful of it's potential. Addressing the social issue is step one, not how it is presented on the microcosm which is our cultures.